Artificial lures have been used for many years to catch fish in rivers, lakes, estuaries, bays, and oceans. Artificial lures typically are formed from either hard or soft materials. Hard bodied lures commonly have hooks attached to an outer surface of the lure, while soft bodied lures often have hooks completely concealed within the lure or at least partially concealed in cavities in the lures. Because of the rigidity inherent in hard bodied lures, the hooks are easily attached to the lures such as by screwing an attachment mechanism into the lure. Fish have been known to pull hooks from hard bodied lures, but this is not common. Instead, hooks often straighten or are pulled out of a fish's mouth before being pulled from a lure.
In contrast, soft bodied lures face a much larger challenge in keeping a hook in the body of lure. Most soft bodied lures have one or more hooks inserted into the body such that an eye of the hook protrudes from the body. The hook point may either be buried in the lure body, such as commonly found with a weedless configuration such as a Texas rigged plastic worm or other such lure, or may protrude from the lure. Often times, a soft bodied lure does not have a slot or cavity into which a hook may be inserted. Rather, a hook may be inserted into the lure body by inserting the point of the hook and forcing the point through the body until it protrudes out of the lure body. There exists numerous ways of positioning a hook in a soft bodied lure, which are known to those of ordinary skill in the art and not discussed here.
Examples of particular soft bodied lure are shown in FIGS. 1 and 2. FIGS. 1 and 2 shows cross-sections of soft bodied lures resembling a shrimp. Each lure includes a cavity for containing a hook. The cavity generally follows the shape of the hook and enables a point of the hook to protrude through a top surface of the lure while an eye of the hook protrudes through the tip of the lure.
During use, the lure is pulled through the water by a line attached to the eye of the hook. The shrimp remains relatively rigid during use. In addition, the hook containing chamber with an opening in the top surface of the body of the lure significantly impacts durability of the lure. Thus, a need exists for a more robust lure capable of withstanding a tough environment.